The invention disclosed herein pertains to apparatus for turning around an aircraft from a position, for example, where its nose is pointing inwardly of a hangar to a position wherein the nose is pointing outwardly of the hangar in readiness for taxying out of the hangar. The new turnaround apparatus is especially applicable to small aircraft that typically have a nose-wheel and a pair of main fuselage support or landing wheels located aft of the nose-wheel under the fuselage for the wheels to provide three-point support of the aircraft on the ground.
The traditional method of parking or storing an aircraft in a hangar is to engage a hand-held towbar to the steerable nose-wheel to first turn the aircraft around so its tail is leading into the hangar and then pushing the aircraft further with its tail pointed into the hangar and with its nose pointed out of the hangar. This operation must be performed very carefully because even superficial contact with a rigid object can damage the aircraft and make it unairworthy. Any repair to an aircraft is costly. Any but the smallest aircraft requires at least two persons to turn it around when the towbar method is used, one person to handle the towbar and one person or even another person for pushing and observing to assure that all points on the aircraft are passing obstacles with safe clearance.
Scaled down models of engine driven tugs and tractors of the type used for moving large aircraft are also available for turning around small aircraft in a hangar. However, these motorized drivers are expensive and are used so infrequently that they are not considered by many aircraft owners to be cost justified. Moreover, because the engines are operated infrequently and for short intervals they are inclined to rust and otherwise deteriorate rapidly.
Winches are also available for towing and turning an aircraft around. A winch is mounted in the rear region of the hangar opposite of the hangar door and the aircraft is towed in backwards with a cable leading from the winch. Even when using a winch it is desirable to have two persons collaborate in performing the task, one person for operating the winch and the other person for steering the nose-wheel. If only one person is performing the task, the aircraft is put in place slowly, inch-by-inch because that person is required to switch back and forth between operating the winch and alternatingly observing clearance and steering the nose-wheel.